This free course, What children and young people say, looks at how practitioners and other adults talk to children and young people, and considers how this influences what they tell us. It identifies how children and young people would prefer to be engaged with, what would encourage their confidence in authority figures, and outlines the ways in which adults can improve on their listening techniques.

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• understand research and other sources of information about children’s experiences in education and other spheres
• appreciate more fully how children’s lives outside of school influence their experiences within school
• recognise how our own experiences and our views of children and childhood influence how we learn about, interpret and act upon what children tell us
• take a critical approach to research, advocacy and other activities focused on finding out and promoting children’s views and experiences.